Risotto

Beans, grains, vegetables, cheese—this healthy, hearty dish has it all.

I serve most risottos as a side dish, but this is an entrée-style risotto. With a fresh green salad and a glass of crisp Pinot Grigio, this is one of my favorite light suppers—and it’s based on leftovers!

The secret to the intense mushroom flavor in this recipe is that not only are mushrooms themselves part of the mix, but the risotto is cooked with mushroom-flavored broth. In order to use dried porcini mushrooms—or any dried mushrooms for that matter—you have to reconstitute them by allowing them to sit in hot water for a few minutes, absorbing that water and plumping up. Then the mushrooms are ready to cook with, and you have all this flavorful liquid as a by-product. By all means, take advantage of it: Here, it works as a flavor booster to the chicken stock; but you can also use it as the base of a wonderful soup or sauce.

This is the most basic risotto. But just because it’s basic doesn’t mean it’s not great: This dish is all about the crunchy yet creamy rice combined with the nuttiness of Parmesan. I serve this basic version as a side to main dishes that have strong, flavored sauces, using the simplicity of the rice to offset the complexity of the entrée.

Creamy, lemony, and delicious, either as an entrée or a side dish. For a fun, elegant touch, serve individual side-dish portions in a hollowed-out lemon cup (see Note). It would make a pretty, festive accompaniment to almost any springtime meal.

I first tasted a risotto similar to this one in South Africa and though at first the idea of adding vanilla to a savory dish sounded a bit odd, I found the flavor combination irresistible. The vanilla adds a lovely aromatic finish but not a lot of sweetness. I consider this the perfect fall dish.

I adore risotto. It is as much fun to make and serve as it is to eat. I have spent most of my career learning how to perfect it—and much of my life eating it. There are few foods that make people moan as much as a beautifully prepared risotto does. (Remember Seinfeld?) Two things make it so delicious: the starch that is released from the rice during the slow and careful cooking process, and the butter and cheese we add to it. Unfortunately, for a few pleasurable moments on the lips, it’s a terror for the hips, thanks to the fat and carb content. This rice-less risotto uses something called TVP, or textured vegetable protein. It’s a high-fiber, high-protein soy product. It’s great both raw and cooked, and it has far fewer carbs than white rice.

This is a great date meal for your Lamb Chop, Sweet Pea, or Honey Pie. No need to worry about dessert—you’re it!

John, my sweetie, loves my wild mushroom risotto, which I used to make with a little brandy in it. John loves Johnny Walker like a brother, so I make his risotto with Scotch—more than a little, too. (Sadly for him, the alcohol cooks off. However, the smoky flavor left behind is great with the earthy mushrooms. To the wise: The better the Scotch, the deeper the effect.)

This is a risotto my mom and I created for my dog Boo. As she got older, she needed a careful balance of carbs and meat: mostly carbs (that’s my girl!). Mom and I would eat as much as Boo. Now that she has gone on, we eat this in her honor. Serve with a dark green salad.

This is comfort food at its finest. It blends Italian risotto with the idea of American macaroni and cheese to create a dish that is more than the sum of its parts. And because we love the crisp juicy flavor of apples with our Cheddar cheese, we decided to take things a little further and use cider to deepen the flavors of our risotto. That hint of tartness balances out the richness of the dish. If you happen to have them around, fresh chives are a wonderful finishing garnish.

This is an excellent technique for a dinner party or any occasion when you want to spend time with your guests instead of standing over the stove. The risotto will be firm and toothsome, but you can treat this as traditional risotto and finish it with a dollop of extra virgin olive oil or butter and some freshly grated cheese for added creaminess. It’s a nice change of pace served with sautéed chicken with a quick pan sauce of white wine and fresh herbs, crispy skate in brown butter with capers, or a garlicky stir-fry of seasonal vegetables.

This risotto recipe from Natan Holchaker, a retired dentist and food hobbyist in Bordeaux, includes smoked goose breast. If you cannot find a kosher version, substitute smoked turkey breast.

Risotto is a classic Italian dish made of Arborio rice, a starchy, short-grain variety that cooks to a creamy consistency. Most well-stocked supermarkets carry it, either near other rice products or with specialty grains.

This is a great dish to serve on Sunday night when The Sopranos come on. It’s classy and understated. A good way to add more intense mushroom flavor is to throw the mushroom stems in with the chicken stock. Just be sure to brush the mushroom stems first for any loose dirt.

Risotto alla Milanese, which my chefs and I researched (and devoured) on our culinary expedition to Milano in 2008, has apparently been a signature dish of the city for over two centuries. A recipe for it appeared in the volume Cuoco Moderno—Modern Cook—published in Milano in 1809, by a mysterious author identified as “L.O.G.” His version had almost identical elements to today’s recipes: rice cooked in butter with onions, bone marrow, cervellato (a type of salami), good beef stock, and, at the end, the addition of saffron. Almost 100 years later, the revered authority Pellegrino Artusi included in his classic collection of Italian recipes a nearly identical risotto alla Milanese, including white wine in the preparation. In twenty-first-century Milano, Artusi’s techniques and ingredients are still the standard (though usually cervellato is omitted). I encourage you to use good beef stock and excellent fresh beef marrow bones to make a truly delicious risotto alla Milanese. The stock can be homemade or store-bought—low-sodium and organic if possible; otherwise, you could substitute chicken or turkey broth. To get the best marrow, ask the butcher for marrow bones cut from the center of the leg bone above the shank. Scraping out the marrow and cooking it is easy. If you’ve never done it, you will see that, as the marrow renders its delicious fat, brown carmelized specks appear. They could be strained out, but I don’t advise it; they provide great flavor, and traditional risotto alla Milanese incorporates them.